1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus, an image processing method, a program, and a camera.
2. Description of Related Art
In recent years, a technique for creating a still image panorama by photographing a moving image while manually moving a camera so as to cover a large subject has been put into practical use. In this technique, a panoramic image is generated by joining the frame images constituting the moving image. A technique for creating a panoramic still image is generalized in the form of, for example, an additional function of a digital camera. This technique is based on a method in which a motion vector is derived during shooting with a panning technique and an area for a seam between frame images to be stitched together is controlled based on the motion vector.
There is also a technique for forming a larger image by connecting a plurality of still images or moving image sequences (see Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2007-266667; and M. G. Gonzalez, P. Holifield and M. Varley, “Improved Video Mosaic Construction by Accumulated Alignment Error Distribution”, Proceedings of the British Machine Conference, pp. 38.1-38.11, BMVA Press, September 1998 (hereinafter referred to as “Non-patent Literature 1”). This technique is generally and widely known as, for example, panorama or photomosaicing. Especially since the time that use of digital cameras became widespread, the use of software for automatically or semi-automatically performing such processing has become widespread. A panoramic still image is basically created based on a linear camera trajectory. However, in principle, it is possible to join moving images captured along a free two-dimensional camera trajectory.